Thursday, April 6, 2017

Exegesis of 1 John 4:1-12, two views

The following comparison is kind of an editorial
commentary on my part. People naturally resist letting go of what they
have believed to be true for years. This article, then is a companion to my article on Resisting Change. When faced with an argument that
cross examines a
cherished view, people more naturally attack the person holding the
other view than carefully listen to the supporting points of the other
person's view. They are likely to collect data that affirms their view
and reject data that challenges it. In matters of religious convictions,
having our views challenged tends to disrupt the way we read the Bible.

1 John 4:1-12, an exegetical comparison

Bible Text (NRSV)

Reasonable Exegesis

Self Serving Exegesis

1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to
see whether they are from God; for many false prophets have gone out
into the world.

Test what people teach if it is presented as truth. Some teachers
have an agenda that sabotages the nature of Christ (vss. 2-3). They
claim divine inspiration but their teaching contradicts a particular
apostolically established doctrine.

Some preachers' teaching is influenced by the devil. WeI will test them. See my comment on verse 6 below.

2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God,

John has in mind a particular heresy that claims that Jesus was not human.

We are able to detect false teachers. Here's how. If two teachers
don't read a Scripture the same way, one of them is under the influence
of the devil.

3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God.
And this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that
it is coming; and now it is already in the world.

Confessing Jesus means confessing Jesus as Lord (1 Corinthians 12:3).

If a teacher is quoting Scripture to expose a belief that is
unscriptural and is suggesting that the commonly accepted view needs
review, he/she is teaching against God, Jesus and the church.

4 Little children, you are from God, and have conquered them; for
the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

A probable reference to 1 John 2:13. They conquered when they
became Christians. John may also have in mind the Christians' confession
that "Jesus is Lord" (1 Corinthians 12:3). It is impossible to say
"Jesus is Lord" if you are teaching against the Lordship of Christ.

What we have believed for decades is from God and anybody who reads the Bible and rethinks what we believe is the antichrist.

5 They are from the world; therefore what they say is from the world, and the world listens to them.

Their teaching appeals to non-Christians.

It only looks like they are reading the Bible. In reality, they are following an "-ism."

6 We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us, and whoever
is not from God does not listen to us. From this we know the spirit of
truth and the spirit of error.

John says, "We taught you correctly from the beginning when you
were babes in Christ. If these teachers contradict what we taught you at
first, then they are teaching error."
Thus, we can extend this
Scripture to say that any teaching that cannot be argued from the Bible
and furthermore contradicts apostolic teaching (= the New Testament) is
error.
(On the relationship of error and deception, see 1 John 2:26; 2 John 1:7).

Listen to me.

7 Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.

A child of God is godly. If he loves, he is a child of God.

We love them as brothers and sisters. We can both love them and censor them.

8 Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.

The proper love act that Christians should exhibit is love for all persons, Christian and non-Christian alike.

I love you; but this church really needs to kick you out.

9 God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him.

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Leaders in the church generally do their teaching so that everybody can rest their faith upon a fluffy pile of pillows. Oh, we want to challenge people; but we don’t want to challenge them with near the force that the Bible does. If there are two answers to a question and one of them is difficult but the other one is simple, we promote the simple answer even if the difficult explanation is the Biblical explanation. I don’t think a Christian’s faith is served by dishonesty. When one’s assumptions are shaken up, we either give up or we work through it and rework our belief system. When people give up, it is unfortunate. When people work through difficulties, they become stronger for it. I also think it is best to hear about difficult topics from other believers who have themselves worked through them. I see the church populated by people with very weak faith. Some might call their faith “fragile;” and that may be a good characterization. I do not believe we should insulate these people from hard teachings. Some day, they need to put away the baby bottle and pick up a fork! It is not ideal to hear about such stuff from atheists who really don’t care about your faith. Most of my articles follow this value. I am a believer who has worked through some very difficult “ah ha!” learnings. I want to share what I have learned with a view towards strengthening your faith.